THE Ibrox idol showed courage as he spoke at a news conference to promote his life story - despite the ravages of motor neurone disease.

FERNANDO Ricksen’s body is failing him. That much is heartbreakingly clear.

The speed and extent of the former Rangers star’s physical decline shocked everyone in the room yesterday as he met the press in Glasgow to promote his life story.

He is only 37, but motor neurone disease has left him gaunt. It is very difficult for him to talk.

Even getting over TV cables to reach his chair is a gruelling challenge.

Things were much, much worse than in January, when Ricksen made his hero’s return to the Ibrox pitch and basked in the applause of the fans who still idolise him.

Former team-mate Nacho Novo was emotional after coming to the press conference to see his old friend. He said: “This illness shows you that you need to enjoy life every day.”

But whatever the disease is doing to Ricksen’s body, it hasn’t blunted his mind or broken his will. It will never rob him of his courage.

The Dutchman is determined – just as he always was on the pitch – to do all in his power to sell his book, Fighting Spirit. He knows the money it raises will help provide for his wife Veronika and little daughter Isabella.

And he’s facing his disease down, just as he did to his opponents.

“At the moment, I feel good,” Ricksen insisted.

“I’m not getting better but the most important thing is I’m not getting worse.

“I feel physically good, only my talking is poor.”

Novo said: “To see him smile and joke the way he does is unbelievable. He’s got a big heart. He’s always been a fighter.

“He’s absolutely amazing. He still believes he will come out of it.”

Fernando Ricksen met up with old friend Nacho Novo at the book launch

Ricksen, battling his painfully slurred speech, joked and quipped his way through his 16 minutes in front of the cameras and microphones at a Glasgow hotel.

He remembered how he decided to have a few drinks in Belarus while with the Dutch national team – and was still drunk at nine o’clock the next morning.

“After that, I was never called again to the national team. That hurt me the most. The money didn’t matter. It was always about football.

“But if I was the coach, I would have done the same as Dick.”

He talks in his book about his seven-day bender with team-mates and fans after the treble in 2003.

Ricksen admits, with his usual honesty, that he couldn’t live with-out partying – even while married to stunning first wife Graciela.

He still craved the attention of other women, and changed his mobile number almost every month so he wouldn’t get caught.

He insists: “Ninety per cent of footballers I knew had sex with women who weren’t their wives or partners.”

And he describes in lurid detail what went on in his Glasgow penthouse after he and some of his team-mates picked up 12 women from a taxi rank.

Ricksen’s only rule in those booze-soaked, debauched days was: “Never without a condom.”

But he wasn’t worried about disease – only about having to fork out for child support.

Ricksen lived his life at Rangers as a one-man headline machine.

Everything he did seemed to make him more notorious – from karate-kicking Aberdeen’s Darren Young at Pittodrie, to shooting fireworks at the home of Celtic star Alan Thompson, to bedding Katie Price while his wife was stuck at home.

His book does nothing to lessen his reputation – and it’s an edited version of what he got up to.

Co-author Vincent De Vries joked: “He told me yesterday that only 50 per cent of what he did made the book.”

Ricksen freely admits he was an alcoholic. And he tells how he knew something was badly wrong with his health last year when he started sounding drunk even though he was sober.

He got his diagnosis a month later – eight short months ago.

“It was difficult, very difficult,” he admitted yesterday.

But he added: “The reaction I’ve had has been amazing.

“From the moment I knew I was ill it has been incredible. Everybody has been there for me.

“It has helped me to stay positive and just accept what is happening.

“I got an incredible reaction when I came back to Glasgow. Going on to the pitch that day will stay with me. When I saw the fans I became really emotional.

“From the moment I came to Rangers until the moment I left – that was the best time. All the in between and even everything that happened to me, I will treasure these memories.”

Ricksen’s Ibrox captain Barry Ferguson has written the foreword for the book. He calls his mate “a crazy guy – but with a heart of gold”.

It’s clear Ricksen treasures Ferguson’s friendship. He said: “A football player moves all over the place in his career and you lose contact. But when we see each other again it’s like we have never been away.

“I want to thank him so much for writing a fantastic foreword. Was I as annoying as he said? Always. From the moment I arrived at Murray Park until the moment I left.”

Many men facing Ricksen’s plight would look back at their lives with sadness, thinking of all the things they could – and should – have done differently. That’s not the Dutchman’s style.

He said: “I don’t have any regrets, if I did I would have no book.

“If I had any regrets I would say something.

“It is great to see my life in print – I am very proud of the book.

“A lot of what is here was on the front pages so a lot of people already know what I’ve done in my life. On the other hand, maybe I had forgotten some things.

“A lot of people have asked me, ‘How do you remember if you were always drunk?’

“But the funny thing is, when all is said and done about what I did, I still remember everything. I remember all aspects of my life.

“I’m happy and honoured that I have been able to put my life on paper.

“Some of the stories are nicer to tell than others.”

Even in the midst of his harrowing battle with MND, Ricksen found time yesterday to reassure the fans of the club he still loves that Rangers will be great again.

He said: “When I came to Rangers they were internationally one of the biggest clubs, and they still are.

“The management are doing a very good job.

“It’s not going to happen in one or two days, but Rangers will be back. It’s going to take a few years but in that time Rangers will be where they were before.”

But for all his legendary candour, he would not be drawn on the club’s boardroom struggles. He said: “I’m fighting another battle, not that one.”

Fighting Spirit has already sold more than 70,000 copies in Ricksen’s homeland and around Europe.

It was published in Scotland yesterday, by Arena Sport, and is available for £16.99.

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